Chasing a Wild Hare…

8052014

…and catching it!

Since redoing my sewing space, so that it was more friendly to work in:

I’ve been really happy with my work space. Other than a few quibbles over where stuff was (mostly due to my needing to find new homes for STUFF, or actually putting away said STUFF), it’s been a good space to make in.

However, I’ve been feeling the need for a design wall. At first I thought, ‘Okay, I can put my Fons and Porter design wall back up’. Unfortunately, I was never really happy with that particular item, because it’s essentially a drape. Having the grid on it never meant much to me, so that was a ‘feature’ I could easily do without.

I remembered reading about other quilters making design walls using insulation boards, batting and Command Strips. Since I’d left work early, I decided that there was nothing stopping me from making up a design wall, except maybe cost. So, I took hubby and kiddo out to Menards yesterday, and discovered that I could pick up a pack of six insulation boards for $6.99. Adding in the spray adhesive, duct tape, and Command Strips, covering my wall was about a $25.00 project. (I didn’t count the cost of the batting, since I had some on hand from an old project. Really terrible stuff, too, that I didn’t want to use in a quilt if I could help it.)

I had to Frankenstein some batting pieces together to have wide enough strips for all four boards – hence the dark lines you can see in the two panels on the left… I didn’t bother to change out from grey thread in the sewing machine. I just was not about to open a new package of batting for this. And those lines? Not going to bother me when I have blocks up.

As for the blocks already up on the wall… A start on the baby quilt I mentioned needing to make it’s going to be a girl, and the mother has definite ideas of what ‘femininity’ entails. I’m not a girly-girl, so I can’t just make something all out of pastel pinks. So, I’m taking yellow, pink, purple, and red scrap squares and making a quick patchwork. I’m using 3″ squares right now, but I’m starting to think I should have used my 2.5″ scrap squares… We’ll see what I decide tonight.

I have an adult friend who adores pale pink. I am making a quilt for her next birthday using the friendship braid pattern and a jelly roll with some lovely red and cream tones. Like you, I am not a fan of pink. I also believe that the whole pink princess concept doesn’t set a girl on a good path in life. Just my opinion, of course.